Chapter 10

In the Capsule Corp living room, silence lingered. Bulma and her father were in the lab, busily working on a more permanent antidote. The rest of the gang were crowded around the television with nothing to do except wait. Bardock sat in one corner of the room, with Goten and Trunks crowding around him, making him uncomfortable.

'So you're my grandpa?' Goten said staring at the Saiyan. 'You look just like my dad, if you didn't look so serious I swear I wouldn't be able to tell you apart.' He joked. Bardock didn't acknowledge the miniature Saiyan.

Piccolo was standing on another side of the room, at first he was gazing at the television watching the soap opera that Number 18 was so adamant about watching to everyone else's dismay, but his focus soon shifted when he thought he heard someone talking about him from a great distance. He turned to the window, closed his eyes and opened his ears trying to find a clearer signal. Gohan noticed Piccolo's back was turned and he approached him.

'Piccolo what's up?' He asked, but Piccolo shushed him hastily. The interruption of Gohan's voice had caused Piccolo to notice the sounds closer to him rather than the ones he was trying to track. He rushed outside to escape the disrupting noises; Gohan followed him, in silence.

Piccolo concentrated, he picked up sounds from all over West city. People chirping and laughing about their days, others loathing over theirs. With so many sounds penetrating his ears, his strong mentality was needed to focus on just one conversation. After searching for a few moments he found the voices he had heard earlier. He concentrated hard and could hear every word that was being said as if they were having the conversation directly in front of him. 'Alchartz!' Piccolo heard one of them say. 'We are on direct route for West City, we will be there in six hours.'

'Excellent work Steele, our plan is formulating perfectly, soon we will have all the remaining Saiyans at our mercy.' Piccolo's eyes shot open, the enemy was heading straight for them!

'How could they know where we are?' He said out loud. Gohan walked up behind him.

'Piccolo what's wrong?' He asked. Piccolo turned around.

'Their coming here Gohan! Alchartz and his men.' He said.

'Who's Alchartz?' Gohan asked.

'I'm assuming he is the one who has formulated this whole plan, the one who ordered our kidnapping.' Piccolo explained. 'They're coming here anyway. We have to move out quickly.' He said.

'But how do they know where we are?' Gohan asked. This was something Piccolo did not know. They talked as though it was not a guess either, that they knew exactly where to find them. A coincidence? Possibly, but Piccolo assumed there was another explanation. With his frustration an itch in the back of his neck became irritated. He went to scratch it remembering that it had been persistently bothering him since he awoke in the woods. There was a small lump on the back of his neck, like a bite from a mosquito. Piccolo scratched it ferociously still trying to pinpoint how Alchartz knew their location. Suddenly, his eyes shot open as he felt the lump protruding from his neck. He scratched at it harder, digging deep into the skin.

'Piccolo?' Gohan said concerned. 'You're going to scratch your neck out.' Piccolo yelled for Gohan to walk over and take a look at his neck, Gohan did so and noticed a large purple bruise tattooed on his skin.

'Yeah you have a bruise on it.' He said.

'I knew it wasn't a bite.' Piccolo said and proceeded to dig his nails around the bite and pull a small device from his neck. He looked at the flashing tool for a moment then ran inside, Gohan followed.

'They're coming here!' Piccolo yelled. Everyone looked at him in bewilderment and confusion.

'Alchartz and his men, they are coming here!'

'Who's Alchartz?' Goten asked. Piccolo held up the tracking device.

'Alchartz is the guy who planted this into the back of my neck. He let us go in the hope that we would lead him and his men to Goku and Gohan.' Piccolo explained. 'They might have planted them in all of us.' Vegeta felt the back of his neck.

'Come to think of it, my neck was very itchy when I regained consciousness! I thought it was just a mosquito bite though' He said. Goten and Trunks confirmed this as well. Piccolo pointed to the spot where the device was located in Vegeta's neck, but Vegeta could not remove it on his own, Piccolo used his sharp nails to dig into the Prince's neck, targeting the bloody device. He did the same for the two half-Saiyans. They weren't as willing to have their skin ripped as Vegeta was though. Piccolo held the four trackers in his hand.

'We have to get rid of them.' Said Gohan.

'No, we should leave them here and we should leave, it will seem more suspicious if they just up and go after being here for so long.' Piccolo explained.

'That won't work either.' Goku interrupted. 'What if they show up and blow the place up? I'd feel pretty guilty if all Dr. Brief's animals were killed.'

'Dad's right.' Gohan confirmed. It's too risky.

'Hang on.' Piccolo said. 'I overheard their conversation and they said they will be here in six hours. Maybe we should formulate a plan and go to them before they come to us.'

'Oh and what do you suppose we do?' Vegeta said. 'You, Kakarot, the two brats and I are useless. The only people we have are Mr University who spends more time making out with his girlfriend then lifting weights and a low-level Saiyan who is weaker than Krillin's wife!'

'You're forgetting about the temporary antidote.' Piccolo said.

'Pfft, our only hope with using that is fusion, and by the looks of it Kakarot won't even consider taking the antidote.'

'Hey come on, I never said I wouldn't take it… I just said I wouldn't get it done through a needle.' Goku laughed awkwardly.

'Look, we have six hours. Surely we can think of something before then. All we know is that we are dealing with beings who are stronger than a Super Saiyan 3.' Piccolo said.

'Hey I've got an idea!' Said Goku. 'If Bardock and Gohan fuse they could become more powerful than a Super Saiyan 3 and I might not have to take the antidote after all.' Goku said. Bardock instantly froze. He didn't have any intention of getting involved in this fight.

'I never said I was going to be part of this.' He said and left his stoop against the wall. He walked past Goten and Trunks and towards the exit, stopping momentarily. 'I came here searching for power, not to fight other people's battles for them.' He began to walk outside, but Vegeta stopped him.

'Why? Are you scared?' He accused. Bardock stopped. 'Or is it because you're too weak?' Bardock turned to see Vegeta's taunting smirk, the one he showed to establish his power and dominance as prince. Although Vegeta did not have the physical strength to take Bardock on, he knew he had the upper hand as he knew why Bardock did not want to fight.

'Vegeta, what are you doing?' Goku asked.

'I'm just stating the truth Kakarot.' Vegeta said, 'Bardock isn't someone we can trust you know.' He smiled, Bardock charged at Vegeta and punched him right in the mouth before Vegeta could say any more. Vegeta fell to the ground with a bloody nose, Bardock was going to charge again, until Gohan held him back. Goku helped Vegeta to his feet and he began to cackle in laughter at Bardock's pitifulness.

'Oh look, you can't even knock me out when my energy is drained. Just proves you're a low-level weakling!' Vegeta taunted.

'That's enough Vegeta, we have more important things to worry about.' Goku said. Vegeta got up and stared at Bardock, still smirking. He closed his eyes and spoke.

'You couldn't even beat Dodoria.'

Bardock's mind went blank. Vegeta knew about Dodoria slaughtering his team, he remembered seeing his friends lying in their own blood, Toma dying in his arms. His rage and anger at Frieza for betraying him swirled inside him, and Vegeta mocking him, making him feel weak and powerless, allowing him to remember how he could not protect his friends and how he himself was almost killed by Dodoria, how he was defeated by Frieza. At that moment, with his head swirling with all the tribulations of the past, Bardock snapped and in an instant fit of rage he lost control of his power and it exploded, causing an excessive amount of damage to the Capsule Corp living area. His hair began to rise and become a tint of blonde, momentarily. His eyes turned a dull green, but then receded back to black. Gohan released him as he fell to his hands and knees, sweat pouring yet again, and he banged his fist on the floor, leaving a dint in the carpet. He had attained the power once again, but he could not hold onto it.

Bulma ran out to the living area after she had felt a miniature earthquake in her lab. She looked around at shattered glass and broken tables, then saw Bardock on the ground, instantly knowing that a fight had occurred inside.

'Alright, who is responsible for this?' She yelled. Looking at Gohan and Bardock.

'It was me!' Vegeta smiled, taking full responsibility. Everyone looked at him.

'I asked Bardock to show me his Super Saiyan powers, I forgot to mention we should do it outside.' He laughed. Everyone just stared at him in awe, even Bulma.

'Well then.' She said, still shocked. 'Remember to take it outside next time.' And returned to her lab. Bardock rose, he had calmed down now, realising that Vegeta only taunted him because he knew he was capable of becoming a Super Saiyan. Vegeta looked to him.

'I can teach you how to hold onto that power, but in return you have to help us.' He said. 'This is just as much your battle as it is ours.' Bardock knew exactly what he meant by that last line, but it fitted in with everything that had just happened. Bardock nodded.

'Fusion is our best option!' Goku said. 'Bardock and Gohan fused together will be more than enough!'

They made preparations to learn the fusion dance, outside. Goku and Vegeta showed Bardock and Gohan a step by step guide on the fusion dance, Bardock looked on in amazement. 'That looks so….' He started.

'Retarded.' Gohan finished. Bardock nodded.

'Almost as retarded as Gohan's Saiyaman moves.' Vegeta added. Gohan proceeded to argue about Saiyaman's style, until Goku interrupted.

'Trust me, we don't have any other options right now.' He assured them.

'You know, you could just take the antidote.' Said Vegeta, Goku laughed.

'Come on let's not get hasty.' He said.

'I'm doing the stupid dance, you can take the shot!' Vegeta raged.

They spent the next two hours practicing the fusion dance. Then it was time to try it for real. Gohan and Bardock performed the fusion dance and merged into an obese person. With a mix of their hairstyles, a small scar on the face and Bardock's fierce eyes.

'Well, that didn't work.' Goku laughed. Half an hour later Bardon changed back into Bardock and Gohan.

'Were we meant to be that fat?' Bardock asked.

'No, you two didn't touch your fingers properly, that's why it didn't work.' Goku's stomach growled. 'Hey, let's get something to eat. I'm starving!' They went inside for some lunch. Trunks and Goten were cleaning up the smashed glass and were happy for a break. While they ate they thought about their attack plan.

'Ok, so the ship is due here in approximately four hours, making it 3pm, right?' Piccolo explained. 'Well, I think it's best we try to intercept it before then, from the sound of it, I think they're coming here from the West Side, I can still hear them faintly. Right now I think a head on attack is our best bet' He said.

'I think we should take the antidote half an hour before their due to arrive and then intercept them, it shouldn't take us very long to find the ship. I also think we should ask Majin Buu to join us, the more people we have helping us the better.' He continued. Gohan agreed to call Mr Satan and ask for Buu's assistance.

They spent the next three hours perfecting the fusion, Gohan and Bardock had transformed into Bardon twice in those two hours successfully and were ready to take on the enemy. Mr Satan, Videl and Majin Buu had rocked up and Buu agreed to help them. It was half past two on the clock and it was time to take the antidote and get onto the ship. Piccolo and Vegeta took the antidote easily, Trunks was scared but just looked away. Goku and Goten on the other hand were very scared.

'Goten, just take the damn thing.' Trunks said, forming a Ki ball in his hand. 'Look, my powers are back!' He said. Goten nodded and took the needle, wincing a little. Goku stepped back.

'You know what, I don't think you guys need me in this fight, I mean you've got Gotenks, you've got Bardon, we don't need Gogeta.' He said. Bulma grew cross.

'Seriously Goku, you are such a baby.' She said.

'Well we're going!' Said Vegeta, flying off with Bardock, Gohan, Majin Buu, Piccolo, Goten and Trunks.

Goku stayed behind watching them fly off. Krillin and 18 walked up behind him and he turned around.

'Hey guys, bit close aren't you?' He asked. Before he could compose himself Number 18 and Krillin had held him down so he couldn't move and Bulma was inserting the needle into his skin. He kicked and screamed, but it was too late. The antidote was already flowing through his blood and they let him up.

'What is your problem?' He said rubbing his arm. 'That really hurt.'

'Sorry Goku, but something had to be done.' Krillin explained. Goku's pain soon subsided when he realised his powers had returned to him. He quickly rushed to help in the fight, leaving the others behind.

Piccolo directed the crew to the direction he could hear the voices; they found a ship floating in the sky, heading straight for West City. They boarded it. On the deck of the ship Gohan, Vegeta, Bardock, Trunks, Goten, Piccolo and Buu had arrived to what looked like an empty ship.

Inside, Blue and Red ran to Alchartz 'Alchartz, I can sense some power levels, we're being attacked!' Alchartz rose in shock! He was completely unprepared for a head on attack. He ordered the warriors to attack them!

'I can hear them talking.' Said Piccolo. 'They know we're here. I think it's best you guys do your fusion now. They'll be out here any minute.'

Goten and Trunks and Bardock and Gohan performed the fusion dance, just as the warriors came outside they saw the two merging, the little hooded one whom in Bardock's vision he could not recognise ran out first, just in time to see Bardock and Gohan fuse into one being. He instantly recognised Bardock and ran back inside to find Alchartz.

The two warriors emerged to find Gotenks, Bardon, Piccolo, Vegeta and Buu awaiting them, Gotenks and Bardon easily transformed into Super Saiyan 3 and were ready for combat. Piccolo saw the little hooded guy waddle back inside and he knew his fight was in there, he turned to Vegeta.

'I think the leader's somewhere inside the ship, what'dya say we go in there and fish him out?' Vegeta nodded and he, Piccolo and Buu ran inside the ship.